MENIN GATE MEMORIAL

West-Vlaanderen

​Belgium​

Roll of Honour

Listed by Surname​

Ypres (now Ieper) is a town in the Province of West Flanders. The Memorial is situated at the eastern side of the town on the road to Menin (Menen) and Courtrai (Kortrijk).

Each night at 8 pm the traffic is stopped at the Menin Gate while members of the local Fire Brigade sound the Last Post in the roadway under the Memorial's arches.

Visiting Information

Panel Numbers quoted at the end of each entry relate to the panels dedicated to the Regiment with which the casualty served. In some instances, where a casualty is recorded as attached to another Regiment, his name may appear within their Regimental Panels. Please refer to the on-site Memorial Register Introduction. The Addenda Panel lists those service personnel whose details are awaiting addition to the Regimental Panels. All odd panel numbers are on the North side of the road and even numbers are located on the South side of the road.

Steps on either side of the memorial leading to the rear of the memorial, make wheelchair access to the rear impossible. There is however, a slope at the side of the memorial which gives wheelchair users some access but due to the incline, it may not be possible to ascend/descend unaided.

Please note that every Friday, all wreaths positioned under the Menin Gate are checked and removed as necessary, with the exception of those placed the previous evening.

Historical Information

The Menin Gate is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders which cover the area known as the Ypres Salient. Broadly speaking, the Salient stretched from Langemarck in the north to the northern edge in Ploegsteert Wood in the south, but it varied in area and shape throughout the war.

The Salient was formed during the First Battle of Ypres in October and November 1914, when a small British Expeditionary Force succeeded in securing the town before the onset of winter, pushing the German forces back to the Passchendaele Ridge. The Second Battle of Ypres began in April 1915 when the Germans released poison gas into the Allied lines north of Ypres. This was the first time gas had been used by either side and the violence of the attack forced an Allied withdrawal and a shortening of the line of defence.

There was little more significant activity on this front until 1917, when in the Third Battle of Ypres an offensive was mounted by Commonwealth forces to divert German attention from a weakened French front further south. The initial attempt in June to dislodge the Germans from the Messines Ridge was a complete success, but the main assault north-eastward, which began at the end of July, quickly became a dogged struggle against determined opposition and the rapidly deteriorating weather. The campaign finally came to a close in November with the capture of Passchendaele.

The German offensive of March 1918 met with some initial success, but was eventually checked and repulsed in a combined effort by the Allies in September.

The battles of the Ypres Salient claimed many lives on both sides and it quickly became clear that the commemoration of members of the Commonwealth forces with no known grave would have to be divided between several different sites.

The site of the Menin Gate was chosen because of the hundreds of thousands of men who passed through it on their way to the battlefields. It commemorates casualties from the forces of Australia, Canada, India, South Africa and United Kingdom who died in the Salient. In the case of United Kingdom casualties, only those prior 16 August 1917 (with some exceptions). United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after that date are named on the memorial at Tyne Cot, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war. New Zealand casualties that died prior to 16 August 1917 are commemorated on memorials at Buttes New British Cemetery and Messines Ridge British Cemetery.

The YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL now bears the names of more than 54,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield with sculpture by Sir William Reid-Dick, was unveiled by Lord Plumer on 24 July 1927.

The Menin Gate Lions were donated to the Commonwealth of Australia by the Burgomaster of Ypres in 1936. The lions each hold the Ypres Coat of Arms. The lions were given to the Australian government as a gesture of friendship. In exchange, in 1938, the Memorial gave a bronze casting of C. Web Gilbert’s sculpture Digger on behalf of the Australian government. The inscription on the casting of Digger reads: 'In assurance of a friendship that will not be forgotten even when the last digger has gone west and the last grave is crumbled'.

The lions are made of calcareous blue stone (sometimes also called 'little granit'), a blue-grey coloured stone from the provinces of Hainaut, Namur and Liege in Belgium. It is quarried exclusively in Belgium and is constituted from fossilised marine organisms. The stone used for the lions was probably quarried at Soignies, Belgium, with industrial extraction of the stone beginning in 1668. The exact date of the manufacture of the Menin Gate lions is unknown but is thought to be c.1638-1700. Records from 1937 date the Menin Gate Lions from the 1500s. The history of Menin Gate goes back to Louis XIV (1638-1715). He was responsible for the erection of ramparts around the city of Ypres. The walls around the city were pierced by two gates, one on the road to Lille being named the Lille Gate, the other the Menin Gate. In c.1830 the fortifications were modernised by the Dutch government and subsequently dismantled by the Belgian government in 1855-56. At this time, the Menin Gate lions were placed on brick plinths on either side of the Menin Road cutting where the Menin Gate once stood, an entrance to the medieval walled city of Ypres. It was through the Menin Gate that allied soldiers marched to the battlefields of the Ypres salient between 1914 and 1918. The 'Barrier Miner' (Broken Hill; 28/8/1936, p.3) newspaper noted; 'Through this historic gate during the war marched the great armies of the British Empire, France, the United States and Belgium, who fought in the battle of Ypres'. Similarly, the 'Adelaide News' (27/8/1936, p.9) notes; 'The Menin Gate was pulled down 80 years ago, but hundreds of thousands of allied troops, including many Australians, marched through the passageway in the ramparts during the great war'. After the First World War War, the Menin Gate was chosen as the site for a memorial, the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient and whose graves are unknown. The memorial, designed by British architect Sir Archibald Blomfield, was unveiled on 24 July 1927 and consists of an imposing archway surmounted by a recumbent lion. It is inscribed with the names of 54,900 dead from Britain and Commonwealth countries.

Both Menin Gate lions were deeply chipped across their backs, and one had lost its right foreleg. The lions were chipped and damaged by shell fragments during the bombardment of Ypres during the First World War and when they arrived at the War Memorial, only one was in a suitable condition for display. The other had been badly damaged on one side of its head, and major damage elsewhere had reduced it to only a head and trunk ending just below the ribcage. When the lions arrived at the Memorial in September 1936, the building was not yet complete and lacked a suitable space to display them properly, although the lion with the missing leg was displayed by itself for several years. It was decided in 1985 to reconstruct the missing pieces of each lion in such a way that it would be obvious what was original and what was reconstructed. The reconstructed portions were designed so that they could be dismantled to return the sculptures to their original state, should that prove necessary. The work was done by Kasimiers L. Zywuszko, a Polish-born sculptor, with the assistance of period photographs obtained from Ypres. It was completed in 1987. The lions returned to display in 1991. After double checking the load-bearing capacity of the foyer floor, the lions were lifted by crane over the Memorial steps and placed inside the front entrance. All visitors now pass between the lions as they enter the building.

Shot at Dawn

3832 Private Herbert Francis Burden,1st Bn. Northumberland Fusiliers, executed for desertion 21st July 1915, aged 17. Addenda Panel 60. Enlisted giving an age of 18, when he was in fact 16. He deserted when his unit was suffering enormous losses on Bellwarde Ridge in June 1915. At trial on 2 July, he was unrepresented; & no survivor from his hugely depleted battalion could be found to provide a character reference. (Putkowski, p 48)

TH/040862 Driver Thomas Moore,4th Coy. 24th Divisional Train, Army Service Corps. executed for murder 26th February 1916, aged 26. Panel 56. On 11 Feb 1916, he shot dead a soldier from his own company who was billeted in the same hut; & then threatened to shoot a Captain who arrived on the scene, but was disarmed. At trial a week later, no motive for murder emerged. During the hearing which — unusually — lasted the whole day, he stated that his mother was detained in a lunatic asylum, & asserted his own insanity. But no medical assessment was ordered at any stage. (Putkowski, pp 65-67). The soldier murdered was T/211207 Acting Farrier Staff Sergeant James Pick of 192nd Company, Army Service Corps and he is buried in Poperinghe New Military Cemetery in Belgium.​10459 Corporal George Povey,1st Bn. Cheshire Regiment, executed for leaving his post 11th February 1915, aged 23. Panel 19 - 22. Son of Mrs. Dinah Povey, of 51, Primrose Street, Connah Quay. In the front line at Wulverghem, a rumour circulated that the Germans were actually in the British trenches. As a result, the Corporal & the 4 Privates under his command fled back to the support trenches. At trial, the group maintained that they had departed on a hearing a shout to clear out as they had been overrun. The 4 Privates were sentenced to imprisonment. (Putkowski, p 33)

6922 Private William Scotton, 4th Bn. Middlesex Regiment, executed for desertion 3rd February 1915, aged 19. Panel 49 and 51. Son of Mrs. Catherine Scotton, of 52, Gladstone Road, Walton, Liverpool. His brother, Albert also fell and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. William enlisted in late July 1914, he was convicted of Absence in December, repeating the offence in January when his platoon was warned for the trenches. He reported himself the next day, leading to trial. The court-martial papers carried comments suggesting that he was a weakling, & that battalion discipline was bad. The whole battalion was paraded for his execution, which was carried out by a squad from his own unit. (Putkowski, p. 31)

Citation: An extract from "The London Gazette," No. 29202, dated 22nd June, 1915, records the following:-"On 23rd April, 1915, in the neighbourhood of St. Julien, he went forward with the machine gun, of which he was in charge, under heavy fire, and most gallantly assisted in covering the retreat of a battery, losing four men of his gun team. Later, after obtaining four more men, he went forward again to the firing line and was himself killed while bringing his machine gun into action under very heavy fire, in order to cover the advance of supports."

​At "the most critical moment" of the Battles of Ypres, 1914 (on the 31st October), he directed the counter-attack of the 2nd Worcesters which recaptured Gheluvelt.

Citation: An extract taken from "The London Gazette," dated 6th July, 1900, records the following:- "On the 14th October 1899, Captain Fitzclarence went with his squadron of the Protectorate Regiment, consisting of only partially trained men, who had never been in action, to the assistance of an armoured train which had gone out from Mafeking. The enemy were in greatly superior numbers, and the squadron was for a time surrounded, and it looked as if nothing could save them from being shot down. Captain Fitzclarence, however, by his personal coolness and courage inspired the greatest confidence in his men, and, by his bold and efficient handling of them, not only succeeded in relieving the armoured train, but inflicted a heavy defeat on the Boers, who lost 50 killed and a large number wounded. The moral effect of this blow had a very important bearing on subsequent encounters with the Boers." "On the 27th October 1899, Captain Fitzclarence led his squadron from Mafeking across the open, and made a night attack with the bayonet on one of the enemy's trenches. A hand-to-hand fight took place in the trench, while heavy fire was concentrated on it from the rear. The enemy was driven out with heavy loss. Captain Fitzclarence was the first man into the position and accounted for four of the enemy with his sword. The British lost 6 killed and 9 wounded. Captain Fitzclarence was himself slightly wounded. With reference to these two actions, Major-General Baden-Powell states that had his Officer not shown an extraordinary spirit and fearlessness the attacks would have been failures, and we should have suffered heavy loss both in men and prestige. On the 26th December 1899, during the action at Game Tree, near Mafeking, Captain Fitzclarence again distinguished himself by his coolness and courage, and was again wounded (severely through both legs)."

​Son of Mary Hall, of 43, Union Rd., Leytonstone, London, and the late Bmdr. F. Hall.

Citation: An extract from "The London Gazette," No. 29202, dated 23rd June, 1915, records the following:- "On 24th April, 1915, in the neighbourhood of Ypres, when a wounded man who was lying some 15 yards from the trench called for help, Company Serjeant-Major Hall endeavoured to reach him in the face of a very heavy enfilade fire which was being poured in by the enemy. The first attempt failed, and a non-commissioned officer and private soldier who were attempting to give assistance were both wounded. Company Serjeant-Major Hall then made a second most gallant attempt, and was in the act of lifting up the wounded man to bring him in when he fell mortally wounded in the head."

​Son of the late Hon. George Hewitt and the Hon. Mrs. G. Hewitt, of Field House, Hursley, Winchester.

Citation: An extract from The London Gazette, No. 30284, dated 14th Sept., 1917, records the following:-"For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty when in command of a company in attack. When his first objective had been captured he reorganized the company and moved forward towards his objective. While waiting for the barrage to lift, he was hit by a piece of shell, which exploded the signal lights in his haversack and set fire to his equipment and clothes. Having extinguished the flames, in spite of his wound and the severe pain he was suffering, he led forward the remains of the company under very heavy machine gun fire, and captured and consolidated his objective. He was subsequently killed by a sniper while inspecting the consolidation and encouraging his men. This gallant officer set a magnificent example of coolness and contempt of danger to the whole battalion, and it was due to his splendid leading that the final objective of his battalion was gained."

​Son of the late Mrs. Jane McDonald McKenzie, of 23, James St., Dundee, Scotland.

Citation: An extract from "The London Gazette," No. 30523, dated 12th Feb., 1918, records the following:-"For most conspicuous bravery and leading when in charge of a section of four machine guns accompanying the infantry in an attack. Seeing that all the officers and most of the non-commissioned officers of an infantry company had become casualties, and that the men were hesitating before a nest of enemy machine guns, which were on commanding ground and causing them severe casualties, he handed over command of his guns to an N.C.O., rallied the infantry, organised an attack, and captured the strong point. Finding that the position was swept by machine-gun fire from a ' pill-box ' which dominated all the ground over which the troops were advancing, Lt. McKenzie made a reconnaissance and detailed flanking and frontal attacking parties which captured the 'pill-box', he himself being killed while leading the frontal attack. By his valour and leadership this gallant officer ensured the capture of these strong points and so saved the lives of many men and enabled the objectives to be attained."

​Son of Lucy Vallentin, of 116, Albert Place Mansions, Battersea Park, London, and the late Grimble Vallentin.

Citation: An extract from "The London Gazette," No. 29073, dated 16th Feb., 1915, records the following:- "For conspicuous bravery on 7th Nov., at Zillebeke. When leading the attack against the Germans under a very heavy fire he was struck down, and on rising to continue the attack was immediately killed. The capture of the enemy's trenches which followed was in a great measure due to the confidence which the men had in their Captain, arising from his many previous acts of great bravery and ability."

Citation: An extract from the London Gazette, No. 29210, dated 29th June, 1915, records the following:- "For most conspicuous bravery near ' Hill 60 ' on 1st May, 1915. After Trench 46 had been vacated by our troops, consequent on a gas attack, Private Warner entered it single-handed in order to prevent the enemy taking possession. Reinforcements were sent to Private Warner, but could not reach him owing to the gas. He then came back and brought up more men, by which time he was completely exhausted, but the trench was held until the enemy's attack ceased. This very gallant soldier died shortly afterwards from the effects of gas poisoning."​

​Son of Henry L. and Clara Woodroffe, of Thorpewood, Branksome Av., Bournemouth. His brothers Kenneth and Leslie also fell.

Citation:An extract from "The London Gazette," No. 29286, dated 3rd Sept., 1915, records the following :- "For most conspicuous bravery on 30th July, 1915, at Hooge. The enemy having broken through the centre of our front trenches, consequent on the use of burning liquids, this Officer''s position was heavily attacked with bombs from the flank and subsequently from the rear, but he managed to defend his post until all his bombs were exhausted, and then skilfully withdrew his remaining men. This very gallant Officer immediately led his party forward in a counter-attack under an intense rifle and machine gun fire, and was killed whilst in the act of cutting the wire obstacles in the open."